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EL RETORNO DE WALPURGIS/THE RETURN OF WALPURGIS
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| Director: Carlos
Aured Producer: Francisco Sanchez Screenplay: Jacinto Molina (Paul Naschy) Music: Angel Arteaga Cast: Paul Naschy (Waldemar Daninsky), Fabiola Falcon, Vidal Molina, Maritza Olivares, Jose Manuel Martin, Maria Silva, Eduardo Calvo, Elsa Zabala, Ana Farra, Ines Morales, Santiago Ribero, Eduardo Bea, Jose Yepes, Pilar Vega. Filmed in Eastmancolor and Panoramica Running time: 81 min.
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| Review:
The English title more accurately describes what takes place in the film,
since it deals with the Daninsky line being cursed by a vengeance-seeking
witch. The visitation of Satan at a Sabbath in the early part
of the film includes what one presumes are oral and anal scenes, staged
carefully, of course, but still sexually exciting. (Boy, movie Sabbaths
can be fun!). Waldemar Daninsky turns out to be a man with a
romantic penchant, easily falling in love, and subsequently doomed by a
woman who has been set up to initiate the curse. But while open sex
destroys one, true love can save temporarily, even if that salvation is in
death. Two sisters vie for Daninsky's attentions. The sexy
little one seduces Daninsky, only to regret her skills when he turns into
a werewolf during lovemaking. There is something rather prudish
about the other sister Daninsky ultimately winds up with, so perhaps
Naschy the screenwriter is saying that lusty women can only be devil
worshipers or nymphomaniacs. More to the point, however, would be a
statement about good women being those who care for the man they love
rather than those who use a man for sexual gratification. Phil Hardy
might bitch about this, I don't. El Retorno de Walpurgis is
another of Naschy's simple romantic tragedies, and another solid entry in
the Daninsky canon. [Source print: Gemstone Entertainment/United
American Video, SLP speed. About 81 min. A fuller foreign print supposedly
exists, but it isn't the Dutch tape making the rounds at some
private video companies. See below.]
A Dutch pre-record from Empire Video has been duped by several American video enterprises and purports to be a more complete cut of El Retorno de Walpurgis than previously available. It isn't. Not only does the transfer from the PAL system murky up the print, but there's Dutch subtitling all over the place. Because of this, the far cheaper video from United American, even on SLP speed, is preferable by a wide margin (and it widescreens the titles, too!). A couple of minor differences also highlight the preferability of the United American tape: it begins immediately at the first frame, while the Dutch print cuts out the original "Atlas International Presents" logo; the Dutch print also freeze-frames "The Curse of the Devil" title, which is in red, unlike the smooth running white title of the United American print.
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